"I am for life" - B.J. Penn takes diplomatic stance on Roe v. Wade and abortion laws ahead of Hawaii's governor's election

B.J. Penn (left) [Images courtrsy of kitv.com, latimes.com & bloomberg.com]

UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn admitted that he is "for life" when asked about the controversial Roe v. Wade case and the abortion laws that are under fire in the United States.

In 1973, the US Supreme Court ruled that women had the right to choose whether or not to terminate their pregnancy after 'Jane Roe' had challenged Texan abortion laws four years prior. Roe argued that she had been raped but at the time was denied the right to an abortion and was forced to give birth.

Last month, the US Supreme Court overturned their 50-year-old ruling on Roe v. Wade, meaning the right to terminate a pregnancy is no longer considered a constitutional right.

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B.J. Penn, who is running for Governor of Hawaii, had his say on the controversial subject matter while speaking with KITV4:

"Everything is on the legislature, you know? We always talk about it, 'B.J. [Penn], what laws can you change?' Everybody knows I can't do anything in the legislature, you know. It all lies with them."

The former welterweight and lightweight champion added:

"I am for life. I believe everybody is for life. We all wanna see people do good. And, with that said, I'm here to listen to the pepole. I'm here to represent the people. So, in that sense it doesn't matter what I think, it's what the people think."

Hawaii's governor's election is set for November 2022. Should B.J. Penn win, he'll be the first UFC fighter in history to hold the position of governor.

Catch B.J. Penn's full interview here:

B.J. Penn admits he'll ask for Elon Musk's help with Hawaii if elected

Although he is considered one of the all-time greats of MMA, 'The Prodigy' will be hoping his popularity carries over as he steps into politics for the first time. In October last year, Penn announced he was running for governor of Hawaii, his home state.

The governor elect recently appeared on an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience and discussed his UFC career as well as his candidacy. During the podcast, Penn admitted that he'd like to invite Elon Musk to Hawaii and ask for his help because of energy problems on the island:

"Hawaii's got so many different problems with our housing problem, our energy problems, now with everything with the gas. And I really wanna invite Elon Musk to come over and see if he could help us with Hawaii because [it's not] a landlocked state and everything comes in off the boat."

Musk is the richest person on the planet with a networth of over $250 billion. Regardless of his own controversies, the tech giant and Tesla CEO is considered one of the world’s greatest innovators and could potentially offer some solutions to the problems Hawaii is facing.

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Watch B.J. Penn with Joe Rogan here: